Tudizzle's BC29

[HoomHow]

Wow dude, that is fantastic ... Something we can aspire to!

[spanko]

Picked an ATO up also. Best recommendation I got was to put it on some type of timer so it can only run for so long. This in the event of a sensor (float) malfunction so the pump doesn't continue to run if there is a problem and flood the place. Picked one up a Lowes for $12. It can be set for two on off cycles for as little as 1 minute on each time. I figure to do the calculation on how much the Toms Aqualifter pump I am using will pump in 1 minute and set it up accordingly. Good luck with your setup, let me know how it goes and I will do the same.

[spanko]

Installed the ATO today. No problems, works great. I did not put it on a timer though. The reason being is the Tom's Aqualifter pump puts out 350 gph. That is about 6 gpm. The min amount of on time for a timer I could find was one minute. My top off container only holds 2.5 gallons. So the pump would empty the container in about 1/2 minute so I can't see what the timer would accomplish. Can't wait for the ATO to fire up on it's own for the first time. Just want to see it happen. What a geek...................

[TUDIZZLE]

Sweet Spanko.....can't wait for mine to get here and set it up. I already got the timer, but what your saying makes sense. You would need one to come on like 10 sec's a couple times a day. You would think they would make that all built into the ATO already.

 

I'm a total geek too so don't worry. I already am reorganizing the cabinet and today I am going to finally button up the ballast wiring and mount the power strips.

 

Did you just run hose from your reservoir into the tank or did you use some type of "U" fitting at the back of the tank? Also what did you use for a reservoir?

 

Thanks for the 411

[spanko]

Well I use distilled water for changes. They come in a 2.5 gallon plastic container. That is about the perfect 10% water change. So I am using on of those for the reservoir. I got a pc. of hard tubing to stick in the plastic container, hooked the hose for the suction side of the pump to it and the pump. Then from the pump a pc. of hose up to chamber 3 and zip tied to the power cord for the Rio. Make sure you keep the end of the hose above the maximum water line you want to prevent a back siphon. A U fitting of some kind would be good. Have to investigate that a little to see if there is something available to fit on the end of the airline tubing. I used two floats for redundancy if one fails. Instructions on mine were well written and easy to follow. Hope you get yours soon so you have it setup before going out of town...

[TUDIZZLE]

cool thanks for the tips.

 

I will post details once it arrives

[TUDIZZLE]

well just before lights out last night I noticed a couple of zoa polyps fully retrated and almost melted down. After closer inspection think I may have found some sundial snails. They are still really small like the size of a pinhead. They may have been colonista snails but I fear the worse. Guess I will wait for the lights to come on and see what can be done.

 

I have also seem some of the larger amphipods that zoaid.com lists as zoa pests. Guess I will start with a FW dip this afternoon when I get a chance.

 

Spent all day yesterday ripping apart a dishwasher that the service repairman said was blown. I checked out how much the replacement would cost 1200$ and decided maybe it wasn't all that broke. I ripped out the motor and found a bunch of gunk jamming the impeller and after a few hours got it running better than ever. FN servicemen!

 

Company arrives today for Thanksgiving sooooo hopefully I can find the time to fiddle with the tank. Need to get on the top of this before it gets outta hand.

 

Pics to come later

[spanko]

Sorry to here you have pest servicemen and pests in your tank. Cool that you fixed the dishwasher. Keep us posted on the pods and snails.

[dopamine]

yeah, thank god that dishwasher got fixed before company comes. That would add extra to the stress level.

 

I am always looking for nudis on my zoas since I saw that white cotton looking one in my gsp. I assume since they are almost always open that nothing is bugging them besides the occasional pass through by the skunk.

[divecj5]

Have fun with the Thanksgiving company Sorry to hear about the possible snails...I wouldn't think that the large amphipods are going to be a problem although I have heard conflicting things about them.

 

Nice work on the dishwasher, sometimes it's nice to rip things apart and putting them back together....nothing like just doing the work yourself. As long as it works right afterwards

[TUDIZZLE]

Well company is gone but the pests are still here.

 

Leaning towards the snails as I have had the large pods for some time with no ill effects. And only recently the snails have shown up. Have not had that much time to focus on the tank since I do all the cooking for Thanksgiving and had family staying in the house. But since the problem came about, in the mornings, the glass is covered with a dozen or so of these tiny pin head size snails that have the spiral pattern and coloration of the sundial snail. I have pulled a few out and they are so tiny I can't tell if they have a door or not.

 

Tomorrow I am going to make a full effort to solve this problem. Of course I just glued all these different zoa frags to the same rock so the problem will spread quickly if not solved. At least it will be easy to just dip the eone rock, which will be my first course of action. Will see what comes off and then decide whats really going on.

 

At least my ATO arrived today! So looks like tomorrow the tank will get some serious attention, as will the silver bullets.

[spanko]

Yeah baby we're having fun now. Hope all goes well with the problem fix and the ATO install.

[TUDIZZLE]

Got the ATO installed!

 

Pics and details next week as I am off to Florida to take the kiddies to Disney World tomorrow. Five days of chasing the little rugrats around, hope I can keep up! Also the first time I am leaving the tank

 

Not having anyone check in on it, just been fattening the fish and sun coral up over the past week. Hopefully there will be no problems before I get back Sunday!

 

 

Oh yeah and I have determined that I have sundial snail!!!

 

Been picking them off the glass every morning and off my zoas when I can see them. Little Bastaches!!!

I have only lost a few zoa's so hopefully I can thin the heard and get rid of the problem!

 

 

Oh yeah...thanks for the complimets Hoomhow

[c est ma]

Well, wouldn't you know it, I just spent what felt like an hour reading all 12 pp of your thread and when I finally reach the end, you're gone!

 

Just wanted to add my praise to all the rest--stunning tank! And some fantastic pics of all your inhabitants. What a super job!

 

Sorry about the sundials...hope they don't wreak havoc whilst you're gone...

 

I'm sure we've all had to deal with something!

 

I'm not even that fond of Euphyllias, but they do look spectacular amassed the way you've placed them. Very aesthetically satisfying effect! Again--super tank!

 

--Diane

[prand]

well I have been a little dissatisfied with the current filter mod that I have been running. This mod invloved stripping down the stock filter frame and replacing the medium with inexpensive filter medium. At times I was getting tiny particles in the main display and a dusty appearance on the surface. So I have worked up a new filter mod and have been running it for a few days, it has eleviated the above problems and has been working great. Here are pics and details for those interested.

I removed the filter from chamber 1 altogether. I took the stock drip tray from chamber 2 and cut it down to about 3". I then flipped it over and removed all of the fins from the bottom of the tray. This way filter medium would properly seat into it.

 

The original tray was held in place by a lip on three sides of the overflow chamber. Since the tray no longer covers the entire span of chamber two I needed to mount a small tab to help hold the new tray in place.

 

 

Since there was no lip on the back glass for the original drip tray I had to remove a tiny portion of the new drip tray to compensate for the new tab I had mounted.

 

 

Now I just dropped the new filter mod into place, and let'er rip.

 

Another advantage of this filter mod is that when it starts to get clogged the water just passes over the tray eliminating the whole "chambers out of balance" problem I had been experiencing with the other filter mod.

Well I hope this all makes sense? Any questions or comments are welcome.

I too have this problem, but in your mod, couldn't you have just cut the filter media in half , left the drip tray in place , then when the filter got dirty it would overflow onto the other half of the drip tray

[TUDIZZLE]

prand-drip tray over fuge sounds louder than Niagra falls. I actually have new filter mod running, even smaller and efficient. I will post pics sooner here.

 

 

Well got back from vacation to almost empty rear chambers 2-3! Top off was all set up and then when I was putting the lid back on, I guess I accidentally moved the return pump power line so it was resting against the float. No top off for the week. I instinctualy reached in and touched the cord and then the top off fired up and pumped in 2 gallons...doh.

 

My goni had been somehow dislodged and rolled resting against the bubble coral. Both took a pretty hard hit, the bubble the worst. Hopefully they will pull thru between the salinity swings and the contact battle I am sure they had.

 

I also lost about 10 polyps of one kind of zoa's to the sundial snails, I guesss. I have been picking them off when I can, they are still small and difficult always to get a hold of. Still have an abundance of the really large amphipods as well crawling all over the zoas.

 

Forget how much I really tinker with the tank. First week away and so much can happen in 7 days. Actually the longest time for a water change for me. Did 5 gallons the first day back. Every thing seems to be fine and except for the little pests and the bubble the tank is looking good. Maybe time to add a few rics.

 

 

Gotta put up the xmas lights so I will post some pics of ATO install and the tank later!

[JCBioCube29]

Sorry to hear about all that has happen. I am also scared to go out of town for this same reason. good luck in getting everything back together

[Cloob]

Vacation time is always scary. I went on vacation back in July and had my buddy watching my tank. I walked him through feeding, checking Calcium, Ph, top off, and how much to feed. I luckily came back a day early and the pumps were running dry in my BC29. I immediatley dropped my bags in the doorway and topped off the water. Luckily I didn't lose anything. Next year I'm paying someone from my LFS to watch my tank while I'm away.

[spanko]

Well the real question is are you pregnant?

 

Inquiring minds need to know..................

[dopamine]

that sucks about the polyps. I just came back yesterday from 7 days in florida. Everything is fine in my tank, nothing to much to kill. looking forward to checking out the new filter mod.

[TUDIZZLE]

Well, wouldn't you know it, I just spent what felt like an hour reading all 12 pp of your thread and when I finally reach the end, you're gone!

 

Just wanted to add my praise to all the rest--stunning tank! And some fantastic pics of all your inhabitants. What a super job!

 

Sorry about the sundials...hope they don't wreak havoc whilst you're gone...

 

I'm sure we've all had to deal with something!

 

I'm not even that fond of Euphyllias, but they do look spectacular amassed the way you've placed them. Very aesthetically satisfying effect! Again--super tank!

 

--Diane

 

 

ma thanks for taking the time to read thru my thread, and thanks for the compliments. Your photos have been an inspiration, especially the brittle star series. I had never before seen one of mine out fully in the open. Your pics made me spend some long hours staring at the tank until paydirt! One day I hope to be lucky enough to witness the spawing ritual first hand. I think after winter I will set up a pico or small nano in my kitchen as well. Thanks again for all the knowledge and photos that your share here with the fellow NR's

[TUDIZZLE]

As mentioned before snowmobiling is my first hobby and now that the rockies have gotten slammed with the white stuff I have been bangin the hills on my sled. This means that I usually fall off the grid for most of the winter, not much spare time for pounding the keyboard

 

I'm sorry to those that have sent me pm's, for not responding, but I really did not get them until now.

 

 

So here is the ato install pics as promised.....

 

I started with a 2 gallon bucket and drilled a hole for the hosing, one for a funnel to refill and a notch in the edge for the power cords.

 

 

I then made a return for the inside of the tank using..

stock 90 angle---threaded nipple off of stock pump--gasket made from hydorflo adapter---stock swivel-funnel

 

All these pieces actually fit together fairly tight with the help of my make shift gasket

 

 

I used another hydorflo adapter to glue onto the other end of the hose that fit perfectly into the stock pump once the threaded nipple was removed.

 

 

These all fit nicely together into the bucket with the stock pump

 

 

Then I put the float in the third chamber attached to the wall between 1 and 2. I also widened the gap in the lid where the power cords came thru to make room for the return hose

 

Notice how the 90 angle has a lip that clips right into the rim, holds it in place perfectly!

 

Here is the top shelf with all the electronics, pumps, atp and heater on left power strip and lights and fan on the right strip. This way I can power down the pumps while doing water changes without disruptiing the ato or the light schedule.

 

And the whole shabang

 

from far all closed up

[TUDIZZLE]

Filter mod pics and rear chambers as asked for in pm's

 

cut down original drip tray to 1.5 inches, flipped it over and used cheap filter medium. After much use I realized that only 1.5 inches of the filter was used before slowing down flow. This way if the filter ever gets clogged it will not slow flow and mess up the balance in the rear chambers, messing up the ato level.

 

 

 

 

 

Chamber one with false floor removed. Enough LR to fill the chamber up to the bottom of the lower intake. Bag of purigen, Bag of chemipure and 50w heater

 

 

Chamber two with filter mod, 5 lbs LR, Cheato, and CUC of stomatellas and Bristle worms.

 

Chamber 3 with rio 6HF, ATO float and ATO return nozzel

 

 

 

Also a pic of what a sundial snail does to zoas, notice the melted white zoa in the middle

 

Doing my best to get rid of the problem, still picking 2-3 snails a day as I see them.

 

 

 

Thanks again to all who have participated in my thread. I will try to check in at least once a week and will do my best to answer any questions at that time, and throw down a few update pics!

[TUDIZZLE]

spanko..did we talk or are do you just have ESP? We are actually going to start trying for number 3 after the 1st of the year......no pressure. I feel bad if I post my ric is splitting and then hasn't finished after a few months, geez how will I feel if my own frag doesn't split

[c est ma]

Super series of how-to pics, Tud, and your tank fits beautifully in that room, which is pretty lovely itself, BTW. How do you keep things so neat with two little ones?! Also--thanks for the kind words!

 

--Diane